Ferguson: Life Matters
In the wake of several police shootings of unarmed black Americans, Ferguson: Life Matters goes to the hometown of Mike Brown, one such unarmed black American whose murderer has since walked free and left the Ferguson Police Department on his own accord. We are guided throughout the film by a Missouri resident who is credited as a student and musician as he addresses what he perceives to be the roots of the problems in the inner city and gives insights on what he and the people around him feel would be appropriate solutions, or at least appropriate viewpoints for assessing the issues.
We are given a glimpse of the protests happening in Ferguson not only as movements for a solution, but also as an opportunity for those who would choose to do the neighborhood harm to do just that through looting and property destruction. A staggeringly small amount of this property destruction is aimed at the police or any external factor perceived to do harm to the people of the community, but is instead directed at local entrepreneurs who have only worked to service the community's economy.
The fact that we aren't provided with much more than opinions and a bit of figurative b-roll means that this probably won't be the definitive documentary film on the subject of Ferguson's racial climate, Mike Brown, or the underserved minority population on Ferguson; all subjects touched on in this film. Instead hard facts or statistically based graphs of any kind, we are presented with the opinions of religious figures, local business owners, and even some of our young guide's friends.
The film comes to a point where we are taken into to the guide's recording studio session; not entirely necessary for providing us with context on what the film is all about. Still, it opens up a dialogue and keeps a conversation going about an injustice that is bigger than one place and one person.
They have no argument, facts or logic,
That is the number one rule from the liberal playbook.
If they have nothing, they try to shut down the debate by calling racist.
RACIST! RACIST! This type of reaction is getting so old it's like yelling NAZI ! at everything that easily offends [or just disagrees]with your own naive,politically correct nonsense .Stereotypes are not randomly arrived at but they are re enforced by bad behavior.There is definitely a large proportion of people who play up the race card as a means of absolving themselves of responsibility but this B.S. will only take you so far.Act civilized and be treated as such.Progressive whiners would not last a week as law enforcement in the real world.Victimhood is not a viable career option.
@BlueTortilla
You make the same comparison Ive heard so many times before.. About schools in black neighborhoods being so much worse than those in white neighborhoods.. Seems that you, as many others believe its about funding. In my experience, going to inner-city public schools, it has nothing to do with funding. Im sorry if it sounds racist...but, when the teacher has to spend 30min of class time addressing the total chaos and disrespect caused by mostly black students...it makes it impossible for any teaching and/or learning to take place. Its not progressive or impressive to believe its the fault of the school system or funding, its just flat-out BS. I don't consider it racist to trust my eyes and ears to see what, why, and who disrupts classroom progress. Its the culture of inner-city blacks to gain attention and respect to show total disrespect and disdain towards order and education. Ofcourse I realize that this culture all stems from slavery and inequality etc...but, at some point blacks in America must take responsibility for themselves and their actions and values. I didnt grow up in Ferguson, but in San Francisco. I understand liberal thinking, and how it feels good to feel "progressive" ... I just am not afraid to call it as I see it... Its not racist in my opinion to say that inner-city black culture respects criminal behavior and disdain for education. I grew up in poor neighborhoods...sweeping up broken beer bottles was frowned upon and laughed at by my black neighbors...the ADULTS at that. Am I saying ALL inner-city blacks are the same? NOPE. But, I have no problem saying that it is definitely not few and far between that have no respect for order and education. I was a teenager in the late 80s/early 90s.. I noticed the huge effect of the inner-city black THUG culture going mainstream.. It has DEFINITELY had a negative influence on ALL inner-city children, and continues to this day.. American Blacks have had it rough, thats a fact..But, its up to them to take notice and take action to make changes. I often believe that if just ONE generation of black fathers gave their children real love and a positive outlook on education and self-esteem, not from the violent anti-social THUGLIFE value system..that a HUGE, positive difference in the future of black America could take shape. Jake Harris may be a bit crass..but, his comments in this thread, and others Ive seen is actually more helpful to blacks than your so-called progressive racist finger pointing.. I believe that to the fullest and am really sick to death by the "progressive" liberal, PC crap that you believe so righteous. You, and the folks like you that feel so good about yourselves do more damage than good.
Also, just curious to know how jtripper would define Marxism. Anyone who disagrees with you?
Michael Brown was a thug - the policeman acted in self defense. The system ruled GIVE IT A REST STOP WHINING GROW UP GET A JOB -[ don't do drugs and then go out in the street, assault a police officer and try to steal his gun and expect to be alive tomorrow
More Marxists trash.
The racist federal government could not bring charges against the officer and they worked hard at trying to lynch him.
The thug who attacked the officer received justice, only a Marxist fool could read that script and come up with a different conclusion.
I'm wondering what the reaction of neo-barbarians like you is going to be when inner cities explode and take on action that goes way beyond looting stores.
If America like Rome is going to fall from within, and that seems likelier than anything, it will be a scene of a militarized state struggling to maintain over its cities while being harassed by vigilante armed 'white' groups trying to topple counties and states.
I think though that whatever would come out of such a fray would be unexpected. The days of white supremacy in the U.S. will end. The process has already begun. I hope I am wrong about the violence. Obviously if your education is representative of most white people then that nation is in serious trouble.
Won't it fun if you get the revolution you wish will happen.
I hate to tell you it won't.
Your just another Marxist tool.
You're a fool you think the savages Obama's working so hard to enrage aren't going to go after you? You're a dead person walking and a fool too.
Well, it's funny to see Russia (a Russian channel) trying to give the US lesons about human rights and minority rights when that same country does at least 100 times worse when it comes to non-white residents.
It goes both ways. It is just funny to see the US give lessons to Russia about human rights!
American Marxists Communists still pay homage to Russia. The place where the Communist revolution started. So why not include that thug-oc-cracy's opinion of the US in the film.
If you blacks put as much effort into being a man or a woman instead of being black, your race would not suffer as much as you say it does. Plus, try doing what an officer of the law tells you to do, instead of smart mouthing them or running. You bring hatred on yourselves by your actions. The white man has nothing to do with it.
'If you blacks?' DNA shows that biologically speaking we are all just as much 'black' as we are 'white.' There is really no difference.
Now the man who insists his culture or upbringing is superior is indeed the biggest fool alive.
MSNBC & CNN are the new lynch mob.....more white people are shot than black people...Mike Brown was a thug....is it racist for a white woman to be afraid of two black men whop are walking up? is it racist for a black man to be afraid of two white police walking up?
I think it's racist to even consider such ludicrous possibilities. When you judge someone by the color of their skin, whatever color that may be, you are acting the part of a racist.
Mike Brown was a thug: if that is true then isn't the duty of the law to apprehend such a criminal for arrest and trail? Yet the white American public like you plays juror in the case when you weren't even there. Are we to tolerate summary, random executions by police? Is the U.S. a totalitarian state in which police can kill minorities at will without risk of retribution? When you're a cop, you're duty is to uphold the law even at the risk of your own life, not to act as judge and executioner. Cops who murder criminals in cold blood are cowards. The nation is supposed to have due process.
Take a look at the Statue of Liberty.
The Justice Department has just given Ferguson, MO a scathing report finding of blatant racism being practiced within the justice system and Ferguson has fired its city manager.
I think that firmly takes this debate beyond one tragic incident and into the institutionalized racism that exists all over the United States, in cities big and small.
You mean the black racism against whites all over America?
Yeah, you said it: them white folks sure got it rough under the yoke of black racism!
????????????
I watched this and several other videos trying to better understand the perspective of the rioters and protesters...
I've yet to come across a rational pro MB argument, other than the 30 seconds of ballistics speculation in the beginning of this documentary, most of the content just centers around what a shitty place Ferguson is and showing how angry people are, chanting black lives matter; I wish someone would have told that to MB before he took a chance with his and decided to start a fight with a police office.
This whole movement is just a big failure to apply Occam's razors, what is a more simple explanation for the murder of MB?
a) That a reckless young man, who was acting like a thug that day, was trying to impress a friend and started a physical confrontation with a cop, the cop overreacted to his imposing physical stature and shot him.
b) That a trained police officer was secretly a murderous racist, executed an innocent man and then immediately called his superiors to investigate the crime he had just committed.
Why do people, especially outsiders, focus on the forensics involved in this particular case, as if that will make this problem go away? To me at least, this is not an issue so much of the officer's guilt or innocence, as a particular issue, as it is an incrimination of defenseless people being shot and killed by police on a regular basis throughout the country. While provocation is not justifiable, capital punishment (if you believe in that- I don't) is not meted out on the streets but in a court of law under due process.
As someone pointed out, police know the dangers involved in being police. Their duty is to protect the people, even at risk of their own lives, and to apprehend criminals. Can anyone here guarantee that no police will fall in the line of that duty? Like a fire fighter, bravery goes with the job. If you ask me trigger happy cops in safety gear act cowardly and cruelly when they gun down unarmed agitators on the street (the legal term for that is 'excessive force'), and they should not be cops.
Individuals have their own capacities for resilience to cope with personal tragedies. But we are not on the prosecutor's team and I doubt that very few people who are thinking as jurors on this case actually know what is really at stake here. This is one of those historical incidents that propels a local conflict between two people into a national call for action. Sadly, since King's day, inner-city America has gone from bad to worse and the middle class either remain set in their racist ways, pay meaningless lip service to the problems, or just don't even care.
Well I agree with everything you say with the exception that
"the middle class either remain set in their racist ways, pay meaningless lip service to the problems, or just don't even care."
We elected a black president. Twice. There's this myth of racist white people, that's very insulting to most of the country that does deeply care about these issues. How many white people do you personally know that are evil racists? I don't any...
There are very pertinent things I've noticed in this thread. First, instead of the 'usual' Top Documentary commenters this thread drew out from the woodwork a lot of racists and semi-psychotic people that you usually see in more insipid forums like Youtube. Secondly, it seems obvious that not too many African Americans from St. Louis or otherwise have watched or commented here (with some notable exceptions). And finally I think it's odd that when it comes to foreign genocides and SE Asian factory slavery the indignant reaction is high, but when it comes to race relations in the U.S., particularly black and white inter-city relations, there's an eerie silence from the usual liberals.
I guess you could blame it on the video's quality, but I think that's just an excuse. People don't want to touch this. It's too volatile, frightening and too close to home. Too bad. You don't change things by ignoring them.
I am one of those liberals that "don't want to touch this". not because "It's too volatile, frightening and too close to home". But because I am a bartender in a small town. I hear the racism and the "n" word often. I stand up to these racists and uninformed bigots in person on a regular basis. You know what happens when I stand up to them or a minority in uniform shows up ( I work at a Royal Canadian Legion). these racists cower. they run scared. they already know they are wrong and they do not have the courage to voice it outside of an ananymous forum. In short i refuse to get into an internet fight with someone who isn't worth my time. This is not a personal attack and I applaud your posts here. I just allow these racists to embarass themselves without my imput.
p.s on a related note. I have a lot of "all muslims are ____ " people at my work. So a serving friend of mine offered to bring in a serving muslim who lost an arm defending our country so they could tell him personally what they thought of him. Nobody took him up on his offer. The worlds biggest cowards are bigots and racists
Wow. Point well taken and I too applaud you- for your bravery. No one can punch my lights out through this screen. I could not do that in the redneck bars of Missouri.
Yes, I was done also. There's nothing more to be said here, just plenty to be done.
Just would like to point out that my post came off really arrogant and condecending and that was not my intent. Frustration seeps in sometimes and often lately I have felt that I have wasted too much time arguing with others online. Maybe it is the winter blahs.
Don't be so hard on yourself edge, you're one of the most gentle, even tempered people I Internet know, even when you're angry. You are completely entitled to get a snappy now and then, especially over a subject such as this. For what it's worth, I think you hit the nail on the head ;))
Uh, you all do know that Holder's DOJ has exonerated Officer Wilson thus exposing the lie of "hands up". You do that, don't you?
"THEY" could care less.
44:30 should be the starting point of this documentary; the problem is systemic and institutionalized racism; always have been; The white elites by and through their corporations, media and government ARE the monsters that keep division and scapegoating alive; along with a few other nefarious buggers
Sportsbruh- exactly! That is what the documentary should have focused on.
I understand your anger as expressed in a later posting. As an accidental member of the caucasian expression of humanity, though, you are, using hate, not an answer to the problem.
There are some valid points made during this documentary, especially around the forty minute mark, but they are diluted by an odd lack of focus, a badly articulated point of view. Midstream, the piece changes from what seemed to be a documentation of reaction to the unfolding of the Michael Brown travesty of justice, to some kind of depressed area travelog. In the end, one is uncertain about what the documentary is about.
Your comment is right on the money. The rapper brothers are very poor speakers that come across as somewhat stupid. Further damaging the "case" is the pastor who comes across as smart when speaking, but sounds like an angry Hitler when he is speaking, the demented guy on the street rambling about how black people are ignored in favour of "the Jews", and the chainsmoking furniture salesman who contradicts himself with each clip.
Jeez! Give the kids a break. How old are they? 18? Who's the director? No, he didn't do a great job. But the young man who leads this doc. is sharp, friendly, and lovable. And he's a model of health for the community. So what's the point? Is all this talk about 'Ferguson: People Matter' the documentary or race relations in the U.S. I'd say the latter is the THE issue of the thread.
I would not say this is a great documentary either but the issues it raises are critically important. Are we incapable of our own observations and interpretations?
What 'case' is there? That it's a fact that Blacks growing up in urban slums are surrounded by drugs, cops, go to schools that lack books, and have no supermarkets? Go see for yourself.
Well, we can agree that it was a poorly made doc about an important topic.
The "case" is where the responsibility lay for this tragic situation, and who should do what.
According to the Bureau of justice statistics written by Alexia Cooper, 84% of white homicide victims murdered by whites, and 93% of black victims murdered by blacks. I agree the man in New York selling single cigarettes was shameful and the police involved should answer for their actions. The same for the kid who was shot in Cleveland, Oh.
What is the defense for Mr. Brown? Is the video of him assaulting a store owner (strong arm robbery) a fake? Did he not rush the officer and assaulted him when asked to stop so he could be questioned? Are we suspending the facts in this case? Are we at the point now if you break the law you should somehow be given a free pass because the perpetrator is black and the policeman white? Would we even be talking about this if the policeman was black?
Sigh. The fact is that we are not the judge and jurors in this case. But the POINT is about something far bigger than the incident in Ferguson. It was, as it were, the spark in the straw.
What are we really talking about here? In any case, the onus is on you to convince a whole nation that blacks living in the United States of America have no right to be angry, have no right to demonstrate and speak out for themselves, and have no right to fight against injustice.
No one is defending looting, destruction, and theft. We are questioning a system that segregates and separates a whole class of people- based upon their skin color, their poverty, and their lack of education. Aside from the first fact, things that society as large has systemically deprived them receiving. You cannot get professional jobs without a good education. Are you going to tell me that primary schools in North St. Louis are equal to those in Clayton, MO, just a half hour away. If you're really interested in legalisms, then starting with tax zones and public education would be a great place to start.
I was taking about the circumstances pertaining to the Ferguson case only. I agree with what you said when it comes to the lack of education, poverty, color, etc etc. Incidents like what happened in New York and Cleveland, the family and community have every right to be angry. Let's also recognize that innocent Caucasians are also victims of horrible crimes because they are Caucasian. We are all responsible for the choices we make. Everything you have said are valid concerns. Education starts at home. So, as a nation, what needs to be done? What actions should be taken to change? All parents need to take an active role in they're children's education. If they are not concerned, neither will the child.
Well said. And looking at hate and war around the globe we find that ethnocentrism does not actually discriminate according to skin color, but will use anything- creed, custom, language, to divide people into opposing camps and stereotype or demonize them.
I find it annoying however that when Ferguson gets brought up many people, mostly whites, immediately gravitate to the position of juror in the case. How many people have been killed by the police in the U.S. last year? Well, no one really knows since the Attorney General refuses to release that information despite being ordered to by Congress back in 1994. There is an estimate of '400 justifiable homicides' in 2013 though what that means we do not know. So it's kind of pointless to play armchair prosecutor in the case of Ferguson. People (mostly black) who defend Brown have nothing to offer as evidence either, nor or they in any position to. I think the point here is to see the macrocosm hate, bigotry, and homicide relative to race in the U.S. and try to understand why it not only persists, but why it has just been getting worse over the last five decades.
The last point is well-taken. The problems that Black Americans face are multi-generational, they do not come out of a vacuum. That is a very complicated matter elucidated only in a study of Black American history (a history which frankly speaking most non-black Americans seem to flippant or dismissive). One thread runs through it all though- segregation. Segregation is a cancer that remains stubbornly embedded in U.S. culture, and as long as whites live in fear of blacks racism and discrimination will persist in the U.S.
You are incorrect on two points:
1. the entire documentary, and most of the reaction to the Ferguson incident, made it quite clear that pretty much everybody considered themselves judge and jury in the case, regardless of how many facts they had.
2. The onus is actually on the black people to convince non-black people that their plight is the fault of the present actions of white people, rather than their own fault. This documentary does not make any such case, and amounts to whining about their plight and calling for others to help them out of it.
It's not about white supremcists. Look, we know the gentle giant had just strong armed robbed a store. We have the video showing this. The cop was doing his duty to stop the guy. The guy rushed him. The cop, who is a person just like you are, and wanted to go home and be with his family, used lethal force to stop the gentle giant. Don't make this into something that it wasn't. Apalling.......
What isn't about white supremacists? The video or the comments here? Because it seems to me the video is about the entrenched racial segregation and inequality that continues to be a normal way of life in the United States.
The White Supremacists are the loudmouths you can read below. I don't believe that they were part of this video.
Also, this is not a court case here and if you watched the video you would have noticed that not a whole lot was said about the incident that went down with Brown. And yet, that is where your comment gravitates to. Why is that? I find it puzzling. But if you really want to defend the right of police to use street executions in the line of duty, go ahead and defend the officer who choke-held a man to death in New York for illegally selling single cigarettes on the streets, or the Hispanic man in Portland who shot down like a dog in public in broad daylight for throwing pebbles at three fully-geared police officers. What was up with those cops? Cold, hungry angry, and tired?
The United States is as we speak is a fledging police state and well on its way to becoming a full one. If you defend- not evidence of specific cases because we defend the principles of liberty and protection over rationalizations- but, if you support the right in general of the police to gun down people on the street then you are an enabler who has given up most of his own personal rights endowed to you in the constitution of the land. You can tolerate police atrocities at the moment, but some years from now you may very well be in one of their cells for something as trivial as littering (but being charged with 'dumping toxic waste'), or end up shot dead yourself for reaching into your pocket for your i.d.
Use your brain and eyes and ears to THINK. Please.
You are so typical.
So typical of what? If I am typical (of something unspecified) and you are distinguishing yourself from that, then you must be atypical. Can you tell us your unique point of view?
I wanted to check the comments just to see if I wanted to watch the film. I decided not too because I have heard (read) all the hateful, disrespectful, and just plain mean speak I can tolerate for tonight. I never can get over how easy we ignorant humans jump at the chance to criticize, argue, and put down all who do not agree with another's opinion. We all have our own story. NOONE can know, nor understand another person completely, as none has walked in another's shoes. That is why we must lean that unless we can learn to love and give grace and mercy to those we may even see as our enemies.....then we will most likely NOT survive as a species. We are all flawed and none can learn this kind of unconditional love without God and the Holy Spirit. I have spent many years and have experienced or glimpsed this love, and it is worth fighting for (the battle is within). Love is the only weapon for which there is NO defense. Dr. King was right about how to achieve any form of meaningful change has to come with peaceful, loving, determination, and patience. We must first learn to accept and love one another for who we are, with the hope of who we can become as our driving force, not anger, that focuses on our differences and seeks to make them faults. Let love be your driving force and we CAN change the world. God help us all to seek to lift up one another, and reach out a hand of hope and love. We have a common enemy and he will fight us every step of the way and only love can defeat him. Rise above. Seek to evolve into a race of loving human beings who help rather than harm and stand together against ALL who refuse to stop the violence and harm to our brothers and sisters across the globe. Peace and Love to you all. Carla
Well, as far as I can tell the responses below are clearly either by racists or anti-racists and the none-too-attractive racists are winning (if you'll allow me the term) more than two to one in points and in number of posts.
Come on people! Where are you? Racists may get away with spewing out their poison on Stormfront, but are you going to let them do it here?
I'd also like to suggest that Top Documentary forums get rid of guest voting. Nearly all the pro-racist up votes here are by guests or Doug DeGrave.
It is not helpful to label every post that does not support or like the documentary to be coming from a "racist". I thought it was a terrible documentary, and a waste of my time. This does not make me racist, it makes me in possession of a brain that I used for critical thinking, and arriving at a judgement.
Well, maybe I didn't dig down deep enough. which posts here are not either from racists or those trying to battle these trolls? Are we to view a poignant and evocative piece of social documentation and let it become fodder for ugly white supremacists? I think not. I say fight back against racists until they're backs are to the wall and the garbage they speak fools no one anymore. WE ARE ALL THE SAME HUMAN BEING.
And you are trying to tippy-toe side-step the issue by critiquing the film's technical merits??? Wow, are you ever blind.
So point to me a meaning post here that is not charged with racism- its propagation or renunciation.
I'm not side-stepping anything. A documentary like this is essentially presenting an issue, and arguing a point. That's great. But when the point is argued very poorly, it detracts from the entire argument. It's like trying to have a discussion with a drunk person. Racism is such an important but inherently divisive issue, a documentary trying to tackle it needs to bring more to the table. Has nothing to do with the "technical" merits of the doc, only the quality of the arguments.
Laughable grievance industry piece of BS.
Sorry- never heard that term. Just what is the 'grievance industry' and how is it profiting?
Wow. Who'd have thought that this would bring out all the white supremacist lurkers on the forum? It's like a swarm. I suggest that they neither know history or understand in the least the ramifications of traumas that are inflicted upon generations of people will always influence subsequent generations.
Haven't any of you seen 12 Years a Slave?
Even Christians today are still obsessed with those 'chosen people' being led out slavery in Egypt and the all the hardships that followed. Why is so hard to understand the anger that arises when you force a race of people from their homes, chain them into ships, and then sell them in an unknown land as something even less deserving of kindness than livestock?
I come from St. Louis. I grew up there and I know what American style racism is. Setting aside an international debate, the U.S. at home remains a racist country in the meanest and most brutal way. If you doubt it, live in any urban area in that nation and get ready for a shock course.
And incidentally, its propaganda encourages the poorest whites to continue to bear the brunt of force against blacks, as it has always done. Not much has changed from the 'overseer' paradigm. In fact, if you're black and stuck in a hell hole like North St. Louis, it just keeps getting worse.
Your suggestion that racists don't know history is funny coming from:
a) your own post citing a hollywood movie, staring Brad Pitt, as your historical reference (did you at least read the original book?)
b) referring to a documentary in which the narrator's own brother lectures on the origins of slavery yet can't even pronounce "origins" properly?
c) the narrator and his brother both referred to slavery ending "four or five hundred years ago".
a) 12 Years a Slave was directed by British director Steve McQueen, not that stupid and grotesque Tarantino flick.
b) That's just cruel. Do you speak the Queen's English perchance? Anyway- o-RI-gins compared to the more standard O-ri-gins, it's just dialect. Which dialect do you speak? There are Scots that I can't understand at all...
c) That is really taken out of context without any effort on your part to interpret speech. Obviously he meant 'began' 400 years ago. Do you honestly believe black Americans would not know when slavery ended or make such a gross error?
So in the end there is nothing funny about this. Your remarks are typical of bigots who want to not only portray a group as ignorant and unintelligent, but also want to blame them for being ignorant as well.
a) Brad Pitt played Samuel Bass in "12 Years a Slave". I'm also not certain you never read the actual memoir.
b) a little cheap by me, I'll give you that, BUT that is not dialect, or accent. It is an English word that has a proper English pronunciation.
c) He said it more than once, and how can I know if the brothers actually know what they are talking about? Around that same time the narrator discusses how his great-grandfather was a sharecropper, and how this made himself "two generations removed from slavery". No, that makes you at least 4 generations removed from slavery.
I am no bigot for observing that the guys who made the film portrayed themselves as unintelligent. I have made no racial generalizations about their lack of intelligence. I judge individuals (I know smart black people and stupid white people, and vice-versa).
I apologize- you're absolutely right on a). Brad Pitt did play a minor but very important role in that movie.
No, I would not use a fiction movie as a historical source, but perhaps in some cases as a reference (if that were appropriate). I also have not read the documentation, as it comes from (as I understand it) recently discovered documents.
b) Linguistically, you're way off. Look it up, research it- because language is very very important in our perceptions of each other and the world. OK- by 'proper' you mean mainstream Chicago accent? Manchester, England? Which 'proper' pronunciation do you mean? Webster's? Shakespeare's? Because I guarantee that if a white guy from New Foundland had 'funny' pronunciation you wouldn't have said a word about it. Whites in America have used Black American English to ridicule, segregate, and portray blacks as unintelligent from the beginnings of their odyssey from Africa. They've done the same with Native Americans and Asians. And now you're doing it. You're say, 'look, the guy is stupid. He can't even pronounce 'origin' properly.' A quick heads up for you is to understand WHERE this guy grew up and the schools that he went to. On dialect, you could not be more wrong. If you were 1000% wrong you would still couldn't be wronger. Clearly, you need a crash course in language drift. Don't seem like you knows much...
Anyway, I'm off this thread. I just wanted to note my error on 12 Years a Slave and to point out that I think you're way too demanding on the teenagers who made this documentary (and your errors on linguistics). Anyway, did you find their intentions not for the good? What were you expecting? VICE?
A lot of this is North St. Louis, not Ferguson. JFYI
I have much admiration for the few minorities that take responsibility for their own. They are, in essence, 'self-governing' of errant behavior amongst themselves, according to their own cultural standards. Which often happens to be higher standards than what is typically assumed in middle-class America. They WANT to be accepted and valued as a co-operative and integral part of a larger community, HERE. They don't expect to be granted status and respect without earning it on America's terms.
The other Peoples that fail to recognize they are responsible for the reputation they have earned, focus instead on demanding for what they believe is owed to them. They will never be regarded as an equal to those who have the dignity and self-respect to be honest with themselves.......by understanding this simple concept: It's not up to us to accept you. It's up to you to want to be accepted.
An inability to act as a community, by not committing yourselves to enforcing an adherence to common values amongst yourselves, is not our burden to carry for you.
It's not up to us to unite you with that understanding.
It's not up to us to change an attitude about all of you, that is perpetuated by many amongst you. How are we to distinguish them from the rest of you, if you will not cohesively condemn their actions and take your own societal measures to prevent their re-occurrence?
It's not up to us to apologize and appease you if you can't take responsibility for the actions of your own....and change it yourselves.
The more you think we should account for your behavior, the less we will trust your ability to control it.
What in this statement does not make sense?
If you have no stake in reducing or eliminating the violence amongst yourselves, we are obligated to protect ourselves from the potential threat you represent.
We're taking responsibility for our own self-preservation, because you won't take any for your own self-control.
If you have no stake in improving the fragmentation of family honor, why do you demand honorable regard? If you have no stake in addressing blatant racial hypocrisy, why is racism abused and exaggerated as an excuse for an attitude unconcerned with the truth?
Of course, the amount of denial to this common-sense is proportional to the fear that it may be right. Pride is often mistaken for dignity.
Isn't it ironic that true dignity arises from the absence of such petty investments?
We are constantly reminded to reevaluate what we naturally perceive from experience.....because it is not in favor of those who do nothing to actually change our minds.
And who are 'you' as opposed to them? It's ironic that the white pastor seems to be in at partial sentiment with you.
Apologize? You think black people are one 'thing' and that 'they' want your apology? From what you write, I doubt you even know what mercy is.
From what you write, I KNOW you've never been on both sides of racism. And who are you to think I'm white?
You've already made too many wrong assumptions in a short paragraph to have any credibility worth respecting.
Reply with scathing condemnation all you wish. It's evident you need to be personally insulting to satisfy that hemorrhoidal itch your confusing with having thoughts.
I couldn't give a Blob fish's ass what you believe and will never read another word of your ignorance.
That is my mercy to you.
I know, right? Another misconception about me.
Reach up a little farther and give a good swipe with a fingernail or two. And don't forget to wash afterwards!
I can smell it from here!
Easy there big fella- don't have a coronary. The world is big enough for us all as the saying goes.. Rage isn't going to help you. If I were you, I wouldn't be so sure you've pegged me.
And I could care less what race you are, that is certain. I've lived all over the world and I've seen the most beautiful and the ugliest. I grew up amongst racist people, and I've been the target of racism many times. People are the same everywhere- that's for sure. Everywhere there is delusion and depending on the nature of that delusion so goes human behavior.
Genetics have pretty much ended the race-type concept and another hundred years the white skinned Caucasian will be gone and that ends the astrology....unless star people do really exist!
Inevitably so. It's the time between that troubles me. For today, people, the big majority, remain bigots of one garden-variety or the other and are more than willing to justify murder and war to justify their small-minded views.
War is one concept humans need to discard entirely at this stage as we are quickly rendering this planet uninhabitable. We need big plans for bold moves towards local inter-solar colonization. The way you garner political support for these things is to start with totally off-the-wall ideas like turning Yellowstone into the world's largest game preserve to save as many species from other countries as possible including flora, fauna and animal. This gives you a real-time basis for scientific study of habitat impact in planetary biology so you can see how nature evolves to support a teaming life environment.
If we are intent on killing off the human race we should at least leave a viable planet for some other species to enjoy.
While I know it's off topic I agree 110% with everything David says here and wish that everyone in the world could get a chance to hear it. I hope someday they will- these are the solutions we need if we are to survive as a species.
With all that in mind check out 'Back to the Moon for Good' to see just how very far we have to go.
Strangely enough Newt Gingrich's "moon-base," concept has scientific merit. It is a horrible waste of money to build and constantly re-orbit a space station when the earth has a natural space station orbiting it.
Even telescopes on the moon would be beneficial not to mention defense department spy cameras or space-based solar and cosmic radiation collecting experiments.
I disagree only in Mars colonization efforts being in front of or before moon colonization efforts. We need to work on thousand year plans which center on sciences in research areas and this is easily affordable when Americans take control of their central bank policies and begin issuing debt-free money to fund these efforts.
Though, they cannot only occur in space as most of what man knows as science he has learned from his own natural environment therefore we must save as much of this environment as possible in order to develop a competent life-colonizing system. We should be sending balloons into the path of Mars with seed and DNA now. We should be creating a Jurassic park-style super animal kingdom here in Yellowstone to study how species evolve in challenging Eco-systems.
We should be focused on something other than the return of Jesus.
In post-civ times we regard waste as investments that didn't bring profit. But are definitions of investments and profits that refer to things that we can only look at, not achievements within ourselves the real waste? I can think of nothing that would bring us together quicker and propel us to growth as a collective being than investing into living in space. If we want transformation, it's at our fingertips. If we want to use our technology to help take us into a whole new level of awareness and stability, we can. It's a wonder and a curse that we so far we haven't.
By your definition then, Amazon is waste, Goldman Sachs is waste, Bank of America is waste, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Dexia, A.I.G., Ford, G.M., Chrysler, G.E., Harley Davidson, Facebook, Twitter....none of these companies can survive without shareholder issues and government bail outs in fact, Verizon, cannot survive without both government bail out s AND government contracts.
First, a reply I left for "Sportsbruh" is also relevant to you, blue'. To tell the truth, I didn't expect my essay to be reacted to so quickly. I didn't have the time to reel-in such a gulping of hook, line and sinker......to the bait I was casting out. I'll come back to you with more about that later.
Second, you must be unaware of how disingenuous you are when you wield your assumptions as a weapon while at the same time your demanding peace. I gotta say blue.....you've struck-out on everything you've inserted into my intent, so far. Your not opening any doors with that kind of arrogance. Easy big fella. Show respect and I'll reciprocate.
Just an FYI.
I have no negative emotional investment in how I react to comments made blindly here online. The spectrum of intelligence is too broad to have much stake in the opinion of someone else. Especially if they think they know me.
Your just an excuse for creative writing.
When your first words on this thread start off with a contemptuous racial profiling.....and then you go on to be offended by bigotry, trust me blue, I made it a point to enjoy myself in not taking you seriously. But if it gives you pleasure to think you were worth a crinkled brow, knock yourself out! That amuses me too!
You seem very self-absorbed; cryptic really. No, I don't get your points. Can you quote my contradictions?
Some of us, whether we're good at it or not (I don't claim to be) want this world to change. I'm not into 'me.' My concern is for humans and all the folly we've gotten into. I'm no narcissus.
You skirt the issue, speak in riddles, use grotesque and scatological imagery, and expect us to 'understand' you.
What is your point regarding African American life in the U.S. anyway? I for one would like some simple clarity as to where you stand instead of this self-idulged amorphism. Me a creative writer? No, I just try to stick to the point. Humans are equal. All humans. That is my belief and that belief I have tried to emphasize throughout the thread. If you find my writing flowery or sophomoric that's fine with me. But what bearing does that have on the issues? I'm not here to like 'you' or dislike 'you.' I'm hear to assert principles I deeply believe in.
If you feel I attack posters for some sick motives you don't know me at all. Contemptuous? Nah- I just want the best for all of us. Racists aren't welcome. Good day and happy trails.
dumb woman
White
Psychopaths' inability to accept blame or learn from previous experience can be easily proven. They never accept blame for Blacks environmental conditions which are clearly the result of White oppression. On the contrary, Blacks are held responsible for the deterioration of their communities even though all of the property is White-controlled. In addition, municipal services are withdrawn from Black communities and most of these communities have been "used-up” before Blacks are allowed to move into them.
I omitted identifying racial references for a reason.
My essay is a description of a "microcosm" culture clash in an obscure area, involving peoples that don't have the high profiles of more familiar racial interactions. The ones YOU represent.
You would be surprised to find out who they are and perhaps, my own ethnic origins as well. Diversity indeed! But it isn't time yet to make that known.
The profiles that are assigned to my meanings, by YOU whom reply, reflect the prejudices YOU bring to this thread. The assumptions that are arbitrarily made in who I am referring to, also reveals how threatened YOU are by my understandings, believing I was targeting your race specifically.
I was forced to learn what I wrote of because of how dangerously close it became a matter of survival. Despite my considerable resistance, making some hard decisions and compromises still outweighed abandoning any involvement and just leaving.
Even my race is assumed here now, as well. I won't burden you with how offensive that could be to me, if I chose to let it have influence over me. I understand your unawareness of the original nature of this story.
You are still accountable however, for your deductions.
The absence of my naming a particular "minority" and "majority" wasn't even noticed. What you interpreted was based on your presuppositions, believing them to be the only manifestation of racial archetype I could possibly be referring to.
My story has nothing to do with you, so do you feel deceived? Why should I take responsibility for your conjecture? I wrote sincerely about my impressions from an actual community(s) involving real issues between cultures existing to this day.
It is truth to them and me only. Are you still disturbed?
Do you possess the self-honesty to question why?
How easy it is to look for the worst.
How easy it is to jump conclusions.
How difficult is it to learn something about yourself,
before you expect others to do all the learning?
That reply to anyone commenting on my original essay was prepared in advance. Not very personal.
But this is just for you 'bruh.
Vacuous Bisexual
Too Black to show it's face.
Now how willing are you to read more of what I have to say? If you want to be granted enough respect to have your words read, then you can begin with exhibiting respect. I don't deserve your crap. What it tells me is that your a poor judge of race, gender and character. What you wrote about my original essay should have been enough to qualify your relevance to me with less value than the drips I gotta shake off after a 4 beer pee. Make all kinds of accusations and assumptions about me. The only stake I'll have is the warm comfort in knowing I'm not nearly as much of an enemy to you as you are to yourself.
Thinking I'm some white Bitch, you may not read this reply this far in. Even less if you thought I was a white Dude.
I'll bet that's how my writing appears, huh?
I get that.... a lot.
Tell me how much you have me figured out, bruh.
Do your best to insult my "being anything other than Black". I won't confirm or deny anything more to you than what I already have. That's the point of my being here. I WILL say I'm kind-of an "anomaly". But I'm not special. That's what makes this whole thing an interesting exercise in how corrupting racial stereotypes are. No one is innocent but how guilty folks can get doesn't surprise me any more.
For instance, do you consider any of what I wrote here as a willingness to have a dialog? Despite your contempt towards me? Or is that not on your agenda for being here? Or can you get that somewhere else.... or is it the last thing you need?
I try to walk at least a few steps in others Moccasins.
(at times, literally) I don't feel sorry for any race.
But I have learned empathy. Is my hesitation to continue firing back more hate, worth your hesitation to jump to the worse conclusion, before you give anything I write here a moment more of thought? How defensive will you feel about about a statement not intended to be offensive?
Being on the outside looking in, I'm not sure of what you hope to accomplish. I know you have much anger to vent. I get your frustration. I'm not so belligerently arrogant as to think I know what your problems are and how to fix them. All I have are my own observations that to me and even others of your race.... make sense. They aren't turbo-charged with anger and hate. Speaking from my own experience, although I know you have no reason to have regard for that, I believe you are creating more anger and fomenting more oppression against yourself and your entire race. By displaying so much contempt, no one will want to reason with you. Which will make you more frustrated, thus reinforcing and perpetuating everything you believe. A self-fulfilling prophecy, sort of. That can get worse.
You can get pissed at me for offering this, but my intent is benevolent and sincere.Again, you have no idea of my origin other than what you unfairly judged. You have no idea of the effort I am extending right now. Who you think I am isn't even close. It might mess with your sensibilities, so you'll never know, either. Why should it matter anyway? If your acceptance of me is dependent upon that, I'm sorry for wasting both our time.
I tried.
Except that the 'minority' is all in your head. There is no such thing, if there is a dividing line between groups of people it keeps reinventing itself. Perhaps there will be a day soon when the 'minority' will be the super rich leaving the 'majority' with toil. It's happened before. Society is always morphing, and in power throughout the ages greed has been a determining constant in the shape of nations.
Who are you trying to convince here? Who is your audience? Everybody? I don't think so because it seems you take the middle class as somehow possessing common sense preaching down to the 'minority' living in slums needing to be enlightened that 'you' are the cause of 'your own' oppression.
Besides, your notion of justice is corrupt to the core, designed only as an argument for the status quo. Spoken like a true cyclops indeed.
For someone so incapable of understanding how obvious their own racism is....and actually expects to change the perspectives of others with contentious, over-stretched assumptions, it's not surprising you have nothing better to do than excrete your victimization in your own wallow, like your fellow Swine. Your not worth another w
"excrete" "wallow" "fellow Swine"
Whatever happened to you to make you so full of hate toward your fellow human being?
Ah what the hell; you're just another sick troll.
Apparently you have nothing to say and perhaps consider a shooting range as your idea of a fun day out. Or perhaps another viewing of Birth of a Nation.
"I have much admiration for the (FEW) minorities (that stay in line)." Bravo.
A blind cyclops at that.
Anyone who will defend this punk at the expense of the good cop is either ignorant or racist because now we know the facts. Blacks will be inferior until they stop whining, rioting, and loitering. The inferiority complex is something that blacks love to wallow in. It's their idol; it's their god; it's their raison d'etre. (I speak generally regarding American blacks and President Obama in 2015.) Things get better when you stop feeling sorry for yourself and learn to pull your pants up. Orientals owned that business on the street because they were willing to work for it.
I grew up in Ferguson and can't count the number ignorant racists like you I had to deal with. Why don't you spend a few months in North St. Louis, and then contrast that with a few more in the Ozark's, and then tell us your views?
Well, you were pretty harshly racist towards black people BUT you do (awkwardly) raise a good point: the narrator whined about how hard it is to start life with "nothing" as compared to white people who (he thinks) start life with inheritances. This is false, but the argument is moot when you look at all those Asian immigrants who have come over with literally nothing, through the 20th century, and have made great lives for themselves. Also, in an unfortunate coincidence that perpetuates racial stereotypes, after all the black people they spoke to in the documentary, the most insightful and intelligent comments came from the one Asian person they spoke to.
By waving the race card, you put yourself on the level of Al Sharpton.
Seems to me you are the one waving that card the most vigorously, putting yourself on the level of Goebbels.
You don't even know what the term means, do you? It means yelling racist when you can't win or when the evidence is against you. Copy the Asian immigrants. They never cry racist. There is a word that I use to describe those who use the race card. I think you can guess what it is.
Well that Geoboolsra, is called 'baiting.'
We are commenting on a documentary about racism, the race card was already played.
You personally waved the "fool" card.
I am sick and tired of these apologist films for thug life continue! Police are handcuffed enough and this adds insult to injury.
Why don't you just come out and say what's really on your mind?
None of the kids killed there( yes kids!! )NONE OF THEM!!!
That the lead-in description of this so-called documentary uses the phrase "...whose MURDERER has since walked free..." (emphasis added) should be enough to alert any rational person to conclude that its producers are tendentious, delusional fact-deniers.
The police officer who was attacked by a 275 lb, caught-on-video criminal was demonstrably proven NOT to be a 'murderer', but rather simply a man trying to save his own life from this thuggish brute, aka one of "our children" by the apologists for the barbarians in our midst.
Defending the indefensible is (or at least should be) unconscionable. That it's not is the heart of the problem for these black communities.
JAKE YOU SPEAK THE GOSPEL TRUTH. To Hell with those to vain to see it.Bring your fed doorknockers on. I have a 500 grain cure for that. Blacks continue their war against the white community daily.The HS times are near. The super strain of sickle cell is nearer. This social malady will soon correct itself.
Me too a 45 Kahr is my body guard against those MFing hoodlums!
You are wrong about sickle cell, it follows malaria not skin colour.
Yup.
e.g. Australian aborigines have very black skin, but not the sickle cell gene.
I flagged this for extremely violent hate speech.
The next time a White guy shoots a Black guy all he needs to say is, "Yo! He wore red in my hood!" or "Dat foo looked at my baby mama!" or "He aint be from my street so I put a cap in dat azz!" All legit reasons that Blacks murder other Blacks so they should be fine for White guys too- right? . Unless of coarse they are looking for a reason to riot! Nothing comforts claims of discrimination like a flat screen TV.
Yeah....I doubt your comments seem so funny or so true to you the day the Feds shows up to question you about them.
We're witnessing a diseased mind in people like Jake. That disease throughout history has been the cause of genocide, slavery, war, and untold miseries. The only hope is that he become clearly aware of the nature of the evil within his mind.
It's OK to at least not hate yourself, Jake. That's a start.
Lots of guest votes you're getting there Racist Jake. Guess they're all too cowardly to use even a username, much less a name. You have the quivering and fearful right behind you.
I flagged your comment for blatant racism and lampooning. I hope the moderator yanks you, your post, and your account. We have rules on this forum which you agreed to when you signed on.
Hey bluetortilla
I saw your flag and I totally agree with your sentiment. sometimes posts get by us and for that i apologize. If i delete them now it would disrupt the flow of the thread and any responses would seem baseless. I hope you understand and understand that he/she is now on my radar. Also his/her racism is on display for all to see.
Thanks OTE. Actually, your post does a lot more justice than just deleting the original.
a lot of the time it can be worthwhile to keep a hateful post up, especially when there's an impassioned defence railing against it.
Probably shouldn't call someone a coward for not using their real name, unless your real name is in fact "bluetortilla".
I said 'username.' How old are you?
By the way, my real name is PHILIP HARDING. Go for it.
Are you seriously going to make me quote your own post that was just above mine? And your feeble defense is "how old are you?". Geez. Also, Philip Harding can be as fake a name as bluetortilla, so nobody cares.
Here is the playbook Blacks use when asked about Black issues: Call the person racist. Insult the person's intelligence. Dismiss any facts or statistics as racist. Deflect away from the issue. Blame slavery. Make a claim that is unable to be substantiated. Call the person racist again and riot. Under NO circumstances will you admit that Black choices have ANYTHING to do with the issue.
You have no idea just how ignorant your comment is you do you? Listen to yourself.... "Blacks do this....blacks do that". Do you even know what the definition of a racist is?
Some "people" do the things you describe.
You evidently are a person who loves to insult a "group" of people ..."blacks"....but you aren't the least bit "racist". Are you insane or just pretending?
Yes what you said is the very definition of what racist means. Creating a negative racial stereotype and put all blacks into it. Are you saying that it is a problem with their skin color? Their genes? Their heritage? Their history?
There are many blacks in this world that are smarter and more successful than you are. Yet many blacks are brought up in poor families so they are disadvantaged from the start. Imagine how your life would have turned out if you were brought up in a family that is as poor as a typical black family, in a bad neighborhood?
Yes many people are racists, it is part of the human nature to be so, it is as natural as to fear the unknown. Even many blacks are afraid of other blacks who join criminal gangs. But being an educated society means that we have the option to use our brains to rule our hearts and not the other way round.
yeah I'm living that reality now poor and unemployed and its not funny it's sucks.....but I still try to do better for myself. And people like Jake Harris don't get it
Playing Devil's advocate here: you say many "blacks" are disadvantaged from the start. This appears to be quite true. The question is, who disadvantaged them? Isn't it the parents that chose to have children despite they themselves being poor, living in run-down neighbourhood, etc. Why do black people have more children than white people? They should be having less, until they can afford them.
Wow. 'Devil's' is right! This is the kind of hatred King and X feared would turn into an American genocide against American blacks.
Reading posts like this makes Disqus Disqusting!
Can your brain imagine anything beyond your back yard?
Black people should have less children than white people until they can afford them??? God have mercy on you that's all I can say.
I totally agree with DarkSpirit and Greg. What you express here is not only unabashed racism, it's white supremacist racism. You surely understand that you have blamed 'everything' on black people themselves, have insinuated that a 'playbook' (an agenda or conspiracy) among blacks exists, and claim, as far as I can gleam, that all these issues have nothing to do with outside agents in a multiethnic society but are merely in the imaginations of black people and are made up by them as distortions to either excuse their behavior or to gain something. Finally, you lump rioting in with all that you say, suggesting that it too is common and therefore part of the 'Black Playbook,' to use your term.
Perhaps you'd like to elaborate on exactly what issues and statistics you are talking about and what you perceive to be causes and solutions? I'd really like to know.
On the contrary, I would say YOUR post is more racist than Jake's. Jake expressed frustration at some things he's observed. We don't have to agree, but to shout him down as a white supremacist racist based on that is unnecessarily inflammatory. You will drown out your own arguments with your rhetoric.
Not much can be said of the incident that led to the riots, we'll never know exactly what took place during those first few moments at the car. Only two people can tell that story and one of them (an unarmed kid) ended up dead. If there hadn't been a gun to hand, if there was no reason for cops to carry guns, this would have been no more than a scuffle and an arrest. Well, perhaps a bit of choke hold action/manual lynching, but at least he'd have had some chance of surviving? I'm sure racism played some part, institutional racism that is. If the people of Furguson saw it so immediately it's probably because they expect to see it, which suggests it's commonplace.
For anybody that has followed the militarization of the police knows that this is not new. You will not find me debating that blacks dont get the short end of the stick with our justice system. However, people of all colors are shot and killed daily by the police but the media chose to single out Mike Brown. WHY? Simply google Chavis Carter and then google Victor White III
"The militarization of the police"
I'm really surprised that this is the only comment so far mentioning this.
so dumb its literally insane
It wouldn't matter if there was video evidence from 100 HD cameras with full audio and God as an eye witness that Michael Brown attacked the cop. The "protesters" would ignore it all and still scream, RACISM!
What a moronic bigoted statement.
There's one now Jake.
Speak of the butt-hurt, and they shall appear, lol
Because belittling an opposing opinion down to "Butthurt" seems like a grown up and mature way to approach this sensitive topic.
The comment that was deleted asked me why Mr. Harris's comment is bigoted - I assume the poster didn't need to know why the comment was moronic. It is a bigoted comment because Mr. Harris decides to lump all people who protest in Ferguson as people who are unwilling to view evidence fairly and who would simply shout "Racism" no matter what the situation. So Mr. Harris takes a class of people (protestors) and makes them all stupid and racist. Thus he makes a bigoted statement.
Why only focus on racism issue? Around 1,200 were killed by police In America in 2014, why does nobody raise this issue?
Well, it isn't a hot-button issue, is it? Which, obviously, the media loves. That, and the fact that Sharpton can't make any money for himself out of it.
I can't tell you how sad it makes me that I find I can only agree with you. Progress, real, genuine progress, in this area is about the slowest moving thing there is. And, yes, there is fault on all sides, and that can't honestly be denied. But in this particular case, the victim, and the victim alone, was to blame. What a waste, and what potential he decided to throw away in a fit of rage.